The outside kitchen is still being frantically built, and the golf buggies are still wrapped in cellophane, but new five-star hotel Il Salviatino is still on track to be ready for Saturday night's grand opening party.
About 500 guests are expected this Saturday, including actors, singers, and the media at the just-opened Il Salviatino.
It's the new kid on the block, and fresh competition for Orient Express's well-established Villa San Michele, a few minutes drive up the steep hills of Fiesole, overlooking Florence.
Despite the loud drilling and dust flying around, sales manager Emma Strandberg (pictured below) remains calm and collected as she explains the hotel's ambitions to work with the UK trade, and some tactics to make Il Salviatino stand out from the crowd.
Trade relations
By working with UK agents, the hotel aims to tie-in guest history with its "Ambassador service". Gone is the lobby, front desk, and house keeping. Instead guests use ambassadors, trained across all the disciplines, with 24-hour service.
"We want to establish a good relationship with agents, especially as we want to get as much guest history as possible so we can offer a personalised service," Strandberg says. This could include where they have been recently, or their food and wine tastes.
Special rates are also available to agents. "We could offer a better rate to consumers directly, but we want to build relations with the trade. We're finding that agents in the US and Europe need to offer more than just a hotel and flight - you need to offer an experience."
Other initiatives will soon include half-board offers (the hotel will also pay for selected restaurants in Florence) and free nights. Fam trips are also planned. "It's important that agents live the hotel," she says.
I ask if launching a hotel in a recession was a wise move. "It's not for me to say really," Strandberg says. "Yes, there is risk there. But it's the same for everyone. From a sales point of view, the type of clients we are going for still have the money to travel. And we only have 45 rooms to fill."
The US will be the main market for Florence, then the UK, followed by Russia, "which has had a "good response" following a fam trip for 70 Russian operators back in May.
However, despite seeing large groups of tourists in Florence, Strandberg says it's difficult to reach out to the Asian market.
"Tourism in Florence has suffered, but it is starting to get better. There are many people, but sometimes a lot of that is day trips. But I think we're coming out of the recession."
History in the making
Owner MPG bought the villa from Stanford University in December 2007, and its renovation began February 2008. It's almost complete.
Strict regulations meant the integrity of the villa had to be preserved, but architect Luciano Colombo has not only restored and recreated the Renaissance villa – reportedly not left in the best of conditions – but has added dozens of astounding new features, such as a 16th-century marble bath (original purpose unknown, but possibly once a drinking trough for cattle) in the Affresco suite. There's also the glass floor floating above the hallway and the coloured-glass ceiling in the top-of-the-range Ojetti suite. Then there are the high-definition plasma TVs concealed in large wooden-framed mirrors, Wi-Fi, and classic Poltrona Frau leather sofas in most rooms.
There are two restaurants – all Tuscan style. The traditional upstairs restaurant is called La Terrazza, and has views over Florence's famous Duomo. Le Serre, downstairs will be Tuscan, with the same selection of the best local products, but with a twist, and a menu starting from €70 per person for three courses.
Italian chef Saverio Sbaragli, a local with international experience, is aiming for a Michelin star.
Meanwhile, a Devarana spa is set to open in October, and will be the first one by the Asian brand in Europe. Future plans include 16 more suites next to the spa, some with pools.
But even once the opening party is over, and the dust settles, staff at Il Salviatino will continually review the hotel, rooms, and the decoration as they develop their unique style.
Prices start from €662 per night. For sales enquiries, email emma@salviatino.com
Il Salviatino, Via del Salviatino 21, Firenze 50137, Italy
